PREY VENG, CAMBODIA- A high-level delegation from LG in South Korea recently visited Prey Veng Province in Cambodia to witness the impact of their three-year support to the communities participating in WFP’s Food-for-Assets programs. The delegation was led by Young-Kee Kim, Executive Vice-President and Chief Relations Officer of the LG Group and their Corporate Social Responsibility Team accompanied by Monica Marshall, WFP Global Head of Private Partnerships and Edith Heines, WFP Cambodia Deputy Country Director.
As part of the “LG Hope Family” three-year collaboration with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) which started in 2011, the LG Group officially visited Cambodia for the first time in March.
Under this collaboration, LG is providing generous support to WFP’s Food-for-Assets (FFA) program which is implemented to address the annual “hunger gap” during the lean season.
After the plantation period, while waiting for harvests, WFP FFA programmes provide food assistance as incentive for poor farmers to rebuild or rehabilitate their community assets such as roads, irrigation canals and ponds that can contribute to the productivity of the villagers. These assets also link communities to markets, schools and health centers and help protect against the effects of climate change through the development of disaster-resilient infrastructure.
The delegation visited FFA projects covering two road sites and one canal construction site in Prey Veng province, in the southeastern part of Cambodia.
Speaking with the villagers who say that the roads connected their community to the nearest market and contributed to their incomes, Kim responds encouragingly, “I grew up in a Korea where I had to walk 19km to school and have seen Korea progress drastically since. We are now in a place to help and support Cambodia as we can relate to the situation of many communities here”.
In the first year of the partnership, thanks to LG’s contribution, WFP Cambodia was able to assist 3,305 families – 900 of which were female-headed households – from 33 villages who worked together to rehabilitate 29km of roads, 22km of canals and 31 family ponds.
Before leaving, Kim gave the children a very important message. “Dream big! I was a very poor boy like you when I was a kid but I had dream and it helped me to reach where I am now”, he says with a knowing smile.
